This is a significant story. I noticed on the news tonight (KRON4 or CBS5) that PG&E was running advertising about their emergency preparedness programs in between the news reports! Was that just a coincidence, or is PG&E sending a not-so-subtle message to the TV stations about who is buying their advertising timeslots, in order to induce the stations not to dig too hard into reports that high winds and possibly falling trees caused electrical accidents that in turn sparked the fires?

The effect may be further amplified by the fact that the news coverage is pre-empting the regular programming, and the TV stations are not getting the regular advertising they had booked.

On Tuesday, when the initial report about possible PG&E connection with or culpability for the fires came out, there was still plenty of time to short the stock (PCG). Wish I had thought of that! I guess I just don't have that killer instinct. The stock dropped starting Thu from about $69 to about $58 now.

Also: Last night there were more TV news reports showing wreckage of what looked like a transformer at the location that fire investigators are currently working on. The fallen transformer could be just collateral damage, but my guess is that is central to the investigation.

QUOTE: For the better part of a decade, California’s utilities have helped to stall the state’s effort to map where their power lines present the highest risk for wildfires, an initiative that critics say could have forced PG&E to strengthen power poles and bolster maintenance efforts before this month’s deadly North Bay fires.

“It’s a crime scene for us until we determine otherwise,” said Ron Eldridge, the deputy chief of law enforcement for Cal Fire, the agency leading the investigation. “Was there negligence or was there a violation of law? That’s ultimately what we are trying to determine.”

“If there are high velocity winds, there’s every reason to suspect that power lines are a source,” said Jon E. Keeley, a fire expert with the United States Geological Survey in California. “We have many documented cases of power lines igniting fires during these high wind events.”

"On Bennett Lane, where the deadliest of the fires is believed to have started, wires littered the roads even a week after the fires began. But whether the power lines provided the spark that began the fire remains an open question."

There are some great before/after satellite maps (with a slider to alternate back and forth) on github, but unfortunately the maps do not cover the Tubbsfire flashpoint location at the time of this writing.

This is an example of the powerlines and terrain and vegetation near the flashpoint of the so-called Tubbs fire.

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